We shall not see his like again. He answered the eternal stupid question "Can white boys play the blues?" with "How freakin' white ya want?!?!" Farewell, Mr. John Dawson Winter III - you will be sorely missed.

Johnny (and Edgar) were from my hometown of Beaumont, Texas. Beaumont was a 'company' town, a center of the oil refining business, the location of the Spindletop Gusher that started the whole thing. Very blue collar, I often joke that those two guys with the shotguns at the end of 'Easy Rider', I grew up with guys just like that. Not an easy place for you if you were 'different', they faced the same social pressures that Janis Joplin did growing up next door in Port Arthur.

But Texas, and especially East Texas was (still is) a melting pot for so many different musics. Cajun and Zydeco, the great traditions of Texas Blues and Okie country, and deeply entrenched old school R+B. Johnny and Edgar would often see the black touring acts at an all-black ballroom in Port Arthur like Bobby Bland and Lightning Hopkins. They grew up playing that circuit from Houston to Baton Rouge playing places like the Circle Club and the Texas Pelican Club in Vinton, Louisiana, where all of us Texas kids snuck off to party, as the drinking laws in South Louisiana were shall we say, a bit more relaxed . . . where they were influenced by the big white R+B horn bands like the Boogie Kings. If you've ever heard that double LP of Edgar's White Trash band, you get the gist of it. Edgar always steered to that sort of thing and was more jazzy and polished, where Johnny fell to more authentic and hardcore blues, as you see where their careers went over the years.

I came up playing some of the same places, and if you couldn't go from 'Take Me Back to Tulsa' to 'I Feel Good' to 'Blueberry Hill' to 'I'm a Man' just like that, you weren't going to be working a lot. Texas music covers a LOT of ground, and that's where guys like the Winters and the Vaughans and the Reverend Billy G are coming from.

After Johnny signed that huge Columbia deal, he'd come home to see his folks. I saw him and his mom shopping downtown, and here he was, white as a sheet, white pony-tail to his waist, in the most dayglo tye-dyed overalls you ever saw, walking with his Mom: The folks on the sidewalk just parted, as if they'd seen some sort of apparition ! My mom knew his parents, and they were well-respected, and in a funny way, people treated 'those Winter boys' as if they were sort of handicapped with the albinism, that 'bless their hearts' way that Southern folks have.

Since my last name ended in 'W', I used to get a lot of their schoolbooks as I followed them through school (I'm 10 years younger than JW).

Johnny had a continuing battle with chemistry that he fought his entire life in some form or another, and like a lot, had his better days and worse days. I hope he is at peace now.

He was a big influence on me and a number of the musicians I played with through out high school. I saw him a couple of years ago at the Carrboro Arts Center. A great show but loud. I'm happy I got to see him when I did.

"Johnny played many guitars in his lifetime...I'm honored he played one of mine for a time. I loved his music...I like all genres if it's good... but blues has always been my favorite.

"In '72 we were doing live simulcasts with the PBS station KQED from our recording studio at 60 Brady St, San Francisco. We had a huge studio room big enough for a symphony orchestra...perfect for a lot of people jamming.

"One of the memorable ones was with Johnny Winter. They pretty much played all night...the music was incredible.

"He came with a big entourage and a monumental amount of Lone Star Beer and whiskey. Next morning there were a lot of passed out folks around the studio.

"There was a lot of spillage so Alembic smelled like a brewery and distillery for about a month."

Well friends . _____ This is another heavy hit for the " Zeitgeist " of an entire generation of musical self expression from a voraciously productive era of musicians that have shaped the Geo-musical landscape of American Music. Jerry Garcia's passing hit me hard for years as well ____ Jerry was the introspective one and Johnny was the extrospective one: Just like yin and jang __They _ Are both gone now___ !

Johnny Winters Passing is hitting me so hardl ! AT 70 years of age he was on the road , STILL doing his ART !

I saw Edgar perform very recently ___ He was great ! MY regrets ; _____I had not seen Johnny for about a decade !!!!

The Motto of my rant: GO see who moves you musically before they are gone ---

Johnny Winter made the short list of every conscious soul who played guitar in the time period in which he was living, and many who will live in the future. I don't think that his playing has ever needed any sort of explanation, but if I were to describe it to a deaf friend, I would say that it sounds something like sandpaper scrubbed on sunshine. Rough, but pure at heart. It may be a bit overdone, but I always think of his version of highway 61 (and smile).

He changed my world as well. The first tour bus I ever set foot in was John's. We opened a show for him when I lived in Boston and was so excited to get invited on his bus for a little after show party. A little rough, but pure at heart is perfect. God speed.